Once again, I returned to the top of the hill this morning to check on our foxes. It was a relaxing scene with the 3 adults sunning themselves on the lip of the den, but no sign of the young ones. Assuming I was a little too early I decided to potter around for half an hour and see what else was happening. I found a beautiful herd of Elephant with 8 young, all of whom were very relaxed and playful whilst I watched them and basked in the rising sun.
Heading back to check on the foxes, I drove over the brow of the hill just in time to see a hyena chasing the 3 adults away from the den…disaster! I picked up speed and continued to watch as the hyena then ran to another hole and picked up something in its’ mouth and started running towards the young fox den, I was horrified at this point thinking the hyena had chosen our foxes for breakfast; however, then noticed she was actually carrying a hyena pup in her mouth. Both she and I got to the fox den at the same time, with her quickly depositing her precious pup inside and sitting on it! Both of us looking at each other not at all sure of what’s going!
So, where have the foxes gone? Were they eaten? Moved? All this happened in the 20 minutes I decided not to stay and watch, what a school girl error! I do hope that Mrs Fox saw this coming and the others were able to provide a distraction while she moved her pups, but all remains to be seen. I shall indeed be going back this afternoon to try and figure out what’s happened.
However, for now I naively hope that rather amicably Mrs Fox moved out and Mrs Hyena moved in! I’ll let you know later!
